And The Band Played On
by RCLang
Summary: AH Bella/Alice Rating may change. Alice is a memember of the band Midnight Sun. They perform at the Fusion Club. Bella walks into the bar one night and immediately catches the eye of Alice, the lead singer. Bad summary, read before setting a opinion.
1. Prolog

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight nor the song you see in this story. Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer and the song belongs to the band Heart. If I did own Twilight, Bella and Alice would so be together or Jacob and Bella would be together. But I'm done ranting.**

Prolog

"She should be here by now.," I mumbled to myself as I scanned the nightclub looking for Bella. My band, Midnight Sun, had been waiting for me to start singing for the past hour. The crowd seemed to like Jasper's guitar instrumentals but I think in a few more hours, they'd be throwing every object known to man at us.

"Alice, don't worry so much. Bella will be here in a few minutes. She's probably just being held up at work.," Emmett, the band's drummer, whispered into my ear. Emmett knew about the relationship Bella and I had and didn't really seem bugged by it. But then again his brother Edward was going out with Jasper so I guess its hard to be closet-minded about someone who is in the same kind of relationship one of your family members is in. Anyway I'm rambling.

"Yeah I guess so but even when she's loaded with work, she's always in here by now." It was true. Bella could be swamped with files and yet she would always come by 10 o'clock even if that meant she'd only be in here for a few minutes. Just to see me. I smiled at the thought.

Fifteen minutes passed before the crowd started to get mad. Either they hated the music, they were tired of it, or they were drunk to the point that a fly standing on their nose would piss them off.

"Ali, sing something before the crowd kills Jasper!," Rose, the band's background singer, shouted to me through the crowd's shouting. Many songs came to mind but none seemed to fit the moment . Or more so how I felt. The crowd wanted something modern not something classy or classier than dance music. Not that I had anything against dance music-I love it-its just that certain songs suits certain moods and you don't exactly want to play Lady GaGa's latest song when you are down in the dumps.

"Okay guys, I'm ready to perform now." I mentally slapped myself after I said that because I realized just how snobby it made me sound. And I, Alice Brandon, not snobby for sure.

_I hear the ticking of the clock  
__I'm lying here, the room's pitch dark  
__I wonder where you are tonight  
__No answer on the telephone  
And the night goes by so very slow  
Oh I hope that it won't end though  
Alone_

_Till now I always got by on my own  
__I never really cared until I met you  
__And now it chills me to the bone  
How do I get you alone  
How do I get you alone_

You don't know how long I have wanted to touch your lips and hold you tight  
You don't know how long I have waited  
and I was going to tell you tonight  
But the secret is still my ownand my love for you is still unknown  
Alone

_Till now I always got by on my own  
I never really cared until I met you  
And now it chills me to the bone  
How do I get you aloneHow do I get you alone  
Alone  
Alone_

My expression started to deepen when I saw that Bella still wasn't here. It had only been a few minutes since I had last check but I was worried. Hate me for doing so but I was.

"Guys, I hope you liked that song but we're going to have to take a quick break. Our guitarist broke one of his strings while we were playing.," Emmett smiled at the crowd with his usual great stage presence. I could tell he was lying because Jasper had real state-of-the-art guitar strings that he'd only have to replace once every year. Year and a half if we didn't play much."Alice, the other members and I were talking about this," Emmett sighed, "and we've decided that if you are going to be an emotional wreck until Bella comes that it would be best that Rose takes over for you. She's a great singer." I knew that what Emmett was doing was best for me but I couldn't wrap my mind around how Emmett could jump to the conclusion that I couldn't perform. I could perform fine. I could still hear the crowd cheering from that song.

"Emmett, I'll be fine. I'm not worried about where Bella is. In fact I could care less about Bella.," I lied. Emmett knew I was lying. Like I said before, Emmett knew more about the relationship Bella and I had than our own families would even begin to know.

"I know you could perform.," he laughed before switching to a more serious tone, "I, we, don't want you to choose songs based on your mood. I know that's what you usually do but eventually the crowd is going to get tired of this sappy crap you're thinking of. People are tired and drunk. They want something they can dance to. Something to keep their drunken brains afloat.

My point is, I think you should lay down some. Get your mind off things. Relax. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some drumming to do." And on that note he left and I did what asked me to do I relaxed. I thought of the first day Bella and I met. I know its kind of stupid to think of something that you should really be keeping your mind off of but that's how I am. I like to remember things that were significant and brought me joy. The first time Bella and I met had both of those qualities.

* * *

**AN: **So how did you like it? Sorry its short. I usually write short stories. My longest short story being almost 11,000 words. But I hope that 's word count system does boast my word count some. Anyway, I thought the song _Alone _by Heart kind of suited the mood of the story. I also apologize if it ended kind of blankly. I needed to find a way that would open up into the first chapter. The first chapter of course taking place when they met, the last chapter taking place right before the prolog, and the epilog taking place after the events of the prolog. But that's all I have planned so I'm not going to spoil it.


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything except my plot, the Fusion Sound, and the crowd. I'm also not related to Calvin Klein. Nor do I own Tweety Bird. If I was related to Calvin Klein or owned Tweety Bird, I sure as heck wouldn't be sitting here. Enjoy!

Chapter One

The place was pretty shabby but it had potential. Or at least that's what Jake Black told me when he said he found a building for his night club, Fusion Sound. It was a known fact that Jake and I absolutely hated each other but when he said that he'd let my newly-formed band _Midnight Sun_ perform at his club, I couldn't hate him then. After all, if I said _Midnight Sun _had gotten tons of offers I would be lying.

"Jake, unless you meant that it had the potential to be torn down then I don't see that spark you've been telling me it has.," I said to Jake as he gave me a tour of the night club.

"Oh come on, Ali, it'll be great. I've got some cousins that live for this kind of stuff. Plus you know I'm pretty good with mechanics.," he said, flexing his muscles. Now what did his muscles have to do with mechanics is still a mystery to me. But considering that he had been walking me around here for about 5 minutes and I wasn't about to kill him, he was doing pretty good.

"Okay. I believe you. This place can be salvaged. So how long do you think it'll be before the band can start performing here?," I asked him. Not that it really mattered. It wasn't like we all had quit our jobs so we could perform all the time. In fact I was one of the top workers at the local Italian restaurant, Bella Italia, and they were saddened when I announced that I'd have to start taking more nights off than what I usually did due to my performing with Midnight Sun.

"I don't know, Alice. Could be a few weeks. Could be a few months.," he paused to rub one of the walls, "Depends on how much of the wood has rotted."

oooooooo

It turns out that it took more than a few months. In fact in almost took a year if you want to be technical. But I'm not complaining. The place is now open and the members of Midnight Sun are still supporting themselves pretty good. Jake also offered us a free night of drinks. Kiss-up or not? You decide.

"Nice place, Jake. How many icepops did you have to eat to get enough sticks to build this place?," Edward teased. I couldn't help but laugh at him. It wasn't that the place looked like it was made out of popsicle sticks, I personally think it was how he painted it, but I could see where Edward got the idea from.

"Enough to freeze my brain enough where I could ignore what you just said.," Jake laughed in a kind of dry, mean-but-friendly kind of way. Soon people started to come in and Jake gestured us to our spots. As if we were his pets or something. But he was paying us $400 a night, each of us getting $100, so we can be his fucking sea monkeys that die after two seconds for all I care.

It was there that I saw her. Bella Swan. I had seen her face before but it was kind of hard to see her without that James guy with her. She bought the same thing every time, a glass of wine and a plate of mushroom ravioli. To me it sounded like she was slightly used to getting store-bought Italian food. Still she's been coming back every Friday night for the past few months so I'm not complaining. I'm also not complaining because I've been secretly crushing on her for about the same period of time.

"Hey aren't you that waitress from Bella Italia?," she asked me while her boyfriend looked for a clear table. I could've died right there.

"Yeah.," I finally said after an awkward few seconds. Its not everyday that I see a hot woman in my presence that actually wants to talk to me and not ask me if Emmett or Jasper is single.

"So what are you doing here? I've never seen you as much of a drinker." Her voice was so beautiful as she said these words I almost completely ignored that she paid enough attention to me that she could tell if I was a drinker or not.

"I have a drink occasionally but I'm actually here for my band. My friend owns this place and he figured that he'd let my band and I perform here to pay me back for all the times I've had to lie about what he's been out late at night doing.," I said, stopping because I figured she was pretty bored by what I was telling her.

"Cool. What's the name of the band? James is a pretty big music fan. Maybe he's heard of you." Wow, she sounded interested. This is already going better than my last two dates and she doesn't even know my name yet.

"Midnight Sun. I doubt he's heard of us though. Tonight's our first gig. But you can see if he's heard of us. The boyfriend of our guitarist does have a tendency to over-advertise things.," I laughed. After she returned the gesture she called her boyfriend over. He was almost as big as Emmett but he looked tons more intimidating than Emmett would even dream of being.

"Hey James, have you heard of the band Midnight Sun?," she asked. I was so tempted to grab her a stepstool judging by the height difference between the two. But she was taller than me so I shouldn't tease her about her height when I'm 5'1 on a good day.

"No. Why?," he replied. Okay so he heard her just fine. I was wrong. I've been wrong before.

"Oh this woman is a member of it. Tonight's her first gig. And before you ask, she's one of the waitresses at Bella Italia." James gave a nod like that was exactly what he was about to ask. They acted like they were going to say something else-and they probably did-but Emmett tapped me on the shoulder meaning it was time for the show.

ooooooo

"So this is where you'll stay between performances. To freshen up or whatever it is bands do backstage. Just don't kill each other. The carpet guy told me that stains do come out but it kills the carpet. Mold, mildew, you know the stuff.," Jake explained as he gave us a tour through the small room. I don't know how anyone could kill someone in this room unless if the person they were killing was extremely claustrophobic, had a panic attack, and was stabbed while they were passed out.

And for some reason-and I do not know why-but I had a feeling over a hundred couples had sex in this room during the 80s. Probably wouldn't be wise to put an open wound to the carpet if you catch my drift.

"Hey Jake, thanks for letting us play here but I thought you loved us.," Emmett said. Poor guy was almost folded up into a humanly box. Jake looked at Emmett confused.

"I do love you guys. This is my club. It was the cheapest place that looked like it could even begin to be saved. So I don't think it should matter how big this room is. As long as you can sit down, it should be perfectly fine.," Jake said with a kind of pissed tone in his voice. The funny thing is that Emmett really didn't say it rudely. It was more like a friend teasing another friend. The room was quiet for a few minutes. Eventually the silence became unbearable considering I am known for my constant talking.

"Guys, I met a girl tonight that really got my attention. I think she's straight but she finds me interesting." I sounded like a little kid getting excited when someone in their teens talked to them, but the guys knew that I was attracted to the same gender and got head over heels when another girl-especially an attractive one-even asked me to translate something Italian.

"Is she hot?," Emmett asked only to be elbowed by Rose. I couldn't help but laugh. Every time I found a girl I liked, Emmett would ask if she was hot and every time Emmett asked that Rose would elbow him.

"Yeah. Of course. The most attractive thing you'd ever laid your eyes on. But that's just me.," I laughed. Rose began to shoot daggers. I know she accepts the fact that her friend is gay but I don't think she can accept the fact that her friend who's a girl is gay. I guess its the whole mentality that lesbians think every girl is attractive.

"What's her name?," Emmet asked me again. Emmett and I were just cousins but I swear with his nosiness you would've thought we were siblings.

"I don't know for sure but she goes to Bella Italia frequently with her boyfriend and I've heard him call her Bella. Not sure if that's a nickname or what.," I said. Emmett had that look on his face that said that he had some stupid assumption. Like the one time he bugged the crap out of this girl I dated just because her last name just happened to be Klein. I can still hear him repeatedly saying to her 'What do you mean you're not related to Calvin Klein?' and its been what? Five or six years since I dated her? Anywho, I knew he was about to say something stupid.

"Is she Italian?" Everyone immediately flashed Emmett a 'How stupid can you be?' look. But hey he managed Midnight Sun better than I could even begin to so I'm not complaining.

"Hey guys, warm-up time is over. The crowd is getting crazy.," Jake said completely catching me off-guard because I had figured he was still in the room with us.

ooooooo

Now I could see if all those lessons on exciting a crowd on Youtube could help me. I guess I couldn't shoot myself (what were those people thinking when they posted said video is still a mystery), my severe fear of snakes marked bringing a giant python to the stage...okay now I was stalling the group.

"Hey guys, this is a little slow but we're new at this so hear me out.," I spoke into the microphone before singing the latest hit by Katy Perry. I had heard Bella talk about her a lot and considering I liked Katy Perry's work too, the guys wouldn't consider it odd that I was performing a song by her.

The crowd was looking at us but there was something about Bella looking at me that erased all of those other people. James didn't seem to interested, probably wasn't interested, but Bella Swan was looking at me. Her green eyes showed satisfactory. The first performance of Midnight Sun had done great for this reason alone.

"That was great!," she chirped after I got off the stage, "Hey, I never got your name." Hadn't she ordered enough food from me to look at my nametag? I could've pointed that out to her but I was trying not to be too mean.

"Alice Brandon.," I sighed. I'm sorry I don't like people having slight conversations with me then chirping at me like Tweety Bird or some shit like that. I hoped that she wasn't the type that I would have the complete and total hots for, want to talk to her, getting to talk to her finally after gazing at her for months only to realize that she had to be the most annoying person alive.

"Yeah. Now I remember. You were the waitress that spilled sauce on my boyfriend's lap after he said something sexual to me.," she laughed, "No worries though. James was mad as fuck but I think the coincidence is hilarious." I remember that night too. Now if she had known me, she would've been either really worried or really pissed. I hardly ever slip on anything and that night I lost it.

"Did the sauce ever come out? Our guitarist, Jasper, says that it is nearly impossible to get sauce out of clothes and I want to prove him wrong for once.," I asked. Technically we had settled that argument a couple years ago but I still wanted to prove him wrong.

"Yeah. But whenever he comes over to my house wearing the pants, my dog always licks the spot where the sauce fell. We've tried it all though. Thankfully those pants looked hideous on him. You promise you won't tell him I said that?" Actually I highly doubt I'd ever get to talk to him but I was in a good mood that night so I just nodded.

Okay I had her at a spot where I could ask her and she would probably agree to it. "Hey I'm free Tuesday afternoon. Want to catch a movie or something?" Okay maybe now wasn't the time to ask her but the worst she could do was tell me to get lost.

"Um...sure. Hopefully my college professors won't load me up with me up stuff. If not, I'll gladly go to a movie with you this upcoming weekend. I know we could go out tomorrow but I'm not sure if you have any Sunday rituals." By this time I wasn't sure who was more awkward, me or her but I had a date with Bella Swan and that was fine with me.

* * *

**AN: **First off, thanks to everyone who has reviewed, alerted, favorited, etc. I love you guys. Second the part where Alice remembers Emmett chasing a girl Alice used to date saying 'What do you mean you are not related to Calvin Klein?', is officially my favorite line out of all the things I have written. Thirdly, read and review.


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything although owning Ashley Greene or Kristen Stewart wouldn't be half bad. ;)

Chapter Two

"Hey Emmett, you mind if I borrow your car for my date with Bella tonight?," I said already grabbing his keys.

"Alice, your car runs just fine. Why don't you drive it?," he asked me from the kitchen of the apartment I shared with him. My parents used to be real big in the Peace Corps so I often stayed at my Aunt Esme's house so Emmett and I became more like siblings rather than cousins over time.

"Emmy, that thing's a trash can on wheels. I want to turn her on not turn her away. Just one night. Please.," I whined almost like a three year old. Actually I could've just said it in a regular tone and Emmett would've still given me the keys because that's how sweet of the person he is.

"Okay.," he sighed, "But one dent and you are done for."

"Oh yeah, Emmy. You are scaring me to death.," I teased him while I hugged his bearish body.

"So hey what time are you supposed to meet this Bella chick?," he asked. He's almost getting to be as bad as Carlisle when it comes to my dating. But then again, although Carlisle was Emmett's adoptive father they were alike in many ways. Yeah my Aunt Esme gave back to the world by adopting two kids and fostering god-only-knows how many other children, my mom joined Peace Corps to give back to the world. Who is giving more back to the world? You decide.

"7:30. We're going to meet at the deli close to the hospital where Carlisle used to work before he retired. That was the only place both of us know the directions to.," I paused for a second to sit down in one of the chairs Jake's cousin Quil hand-crafted for us, "Emmy, is it sad that I've lived in Port Angeles for almost thirty years and the local deli is the only place I could drive to blind-folded?"

"Well you do eat a lot. So its only-" he started before I playfully slapped him. I looked up at the clock. Almost 6:30 if I wanted to get to the deli in plenty of time, I'd have to leave now.

"Sorry, Em. Gotta fly. Talk to you later.," I said. Emmett knew by this time that I would be back by my curfew and if I wasn't I would hopefully give him a call with a reasonable explanation on why I couldn't be back by curfew. Maybe it was sad that I was 27 and my older cousin had a curfew set for me but with my past history a curfew must be set or else I'll never come home but that's another story.

"Remember what I said. One dent and you're done for.," he said. I mumbled a quick 'Will do' and left.

Bella stood in front of the deli in a graphic tee and a pair of jeans that looked like they had seen better days and those better days had been when big hair with purple highlights had been cool not strange. I almost considered texting her saying that I came down with something and I couldn't make it. _Alice you always have to dress like a fucking Vogue model don't ya?, _I thought to myself.

"Oh hi Alice!," she chirped yet again as she saw me _attempting_ to hide behind a tree. Thanks a lot, Bella. I was trying to hide from you and you go pointing me out like a kid who finally found all the objects in a hidden objects book.

"Hi Bella, ready to go? My cousin wants me home by 12 so we can't do anything too extravagant. Movie, dinner, then we can see where we go from there." Like the nice person I opened the door on the passenger's side of Emmett's Ford Flex.

"Nice car. How long have you had it?," she asked as she flipped through the radio stations looking for, what I guess, something even remotely enjoyable. Now was a make-or-break moment. I could either lie and tell her that it was my car then she find out later and destroy any chance of us at least being close friends. Or I could tell her it was Emmett's and her ask me why I didn't just drive my own, I'll say I figured it would turn her off, then that would kill any chance of us at least being close friends also.

"Its my cousin Emmett's. He let me borrow it because mine could break down any second. " And it was true. Mine was an old Chevy Convertible from the 70s that could blow any second. "I know he's had it for a couple of years."

"Your cousin seems like a pretty cool guy. I bet he has to beat off a lot of guys though.," she said with a slight laugh. I could tell she was embarrassed by the randomness of the statement, as was I.

"No actually. I'm gay." I figured that if I was going to scare her off I might as well do it at a decent distance away from the deli so if I had to turn around and drop her off there, I could.

"Well do you have a girlfriend?," she paused to blush, "You don't have to answer that if it sounds too personal."

"No its cool. Not right now but I'm not really the one to have a girlfriend. Dates on the other hand, I've been on hundreds of them. Either my lovely cousin Emmett has scared them off in some way, something about me turned them off, or something about them turned me off." I could tell her anything now. She seemed to be fairly open-minded.

"In fact one time he kept asking this girl I was on a date with if she was related to Calvin Klein. So be thankful that you don't share your last name with a famous person." She got a kick out of this. Five minutes into it and this was already doing better than most of my actual dates.

It was about halfway through the movie when I couldn't stand just looking at her. Not that I was following the movie. I think neither of us really were, we were just there to please the other one. Anyway, her lips were soft against mine. Looking back, I really should've sensed the displeasure-or maybe guilt-in how she was acting but I was stuck in the ecstasy of the moment.

"Alice!," she shouted almost getting us kicked out of the theater, "I've got a boyfriend. Dammit!" Before I could even open my mouth to apologize she was out of the theater. Okay that marks the 57th date that I've blown for making the first move.

It was a few weeks,maybe a few months, I'm not really sure-before I even thought I saw her. Emmett was worried about me. Actually I would be lying to say that just Emmett was worried. I was the lead singer of Midnight Sun and I couldn't sing if something was weighing on my mind.

The first thing that I noticed about her being near me was her smell. So strong. So sweet. _Alice, stop she's probably just up here to order a drink,_ I thought as I swerved my seat away from hers.

"Oh hi Alice, I see you cut your hair." Okay she hasn't seen me in months after attacking me and the first thing she says is 'I see you cut your hair'? If she wasn't so hot, I'd kill her.

"Um...yeah I did. I cut it every summer. Usually not this length but I wanted something new. So how are you and James doing?" I hate myself for asking that. Its like I'm asking how the other half lives.

"We're doing pretty good.," she smiled, "Yeah that's actually what I came to talk to you about. I'm sorry for storming out of the movie theater. I-"

"I know. You're a bitch. I mean I've kissed straight people before and they've just told me 'Sorry but I'm straight' but to have a stroke over it. Bella Swan, I hardly know you but I hate you.," I growled at her. She looked at me. Like the kind of looking a person does when they are about to cry their mind out to you. Maybe I was too mean. I could've said sorry but I didn't want it to be the kind of apology that a person does when they are fed up. That and before I could say anything, she was gone.

"Nice going, Ali. You just scared one of my FUCKING COSTUMERS OFF!," Jake shouted as Bella ran out the door. If only Jake knew how much I wanted to kill him, or better yet how many times a day I wanted to kill him, he would be nicer to be. So much nicer.

* * *

**AN: **Okay if that sucked, I apologize. I really think I could've made it longer but I didn't want to stretch it. Okay if anyone has any ideas for my story, put them in your reviews because I'm running low on ideas. Well thanks to everyone who has reviewed, alerted, favorited, etc. Review if you like, review if you hate but do have some respect towards me.


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. If I did, I would have more than just Kristen Stewart pinups, posters, a standee, a pillowcase, and countless other KStew items. ;) **

_Chapter Three_

"As the band's manager, I'd like to raise a toast to Midnight Sun still being alive after a year and we're still living in houses!," Emmett cheered as he held his champagne glass over his head, "You've all be great. And I'm not just saying that because the background singer is my fiancé, the guitarist is the boyfriend of my beloved brother, and the lead singer is my cousin.," Emmett laughed, "Cheers!" So yeah it had been a year since the Fusion Beat opened and about three months since I last saw Bella. She had come in for a drink. Or maybe shot was the better word. It wasn't what I'd call a drink but it was a tad bit too big to be considered a shot. She didn't drink much.

"Congrats, Emmett! Nice to know my sister is going to marry some nice guy. Hey Rose, remember that one jerk you were engaged to?," Jasper teased Rose. I bit my tongue very hard not to laugh at the look on Rose's face. It is a known fact that that particular jerk was a male version of Rose.

"Jasper," she paused in an attempt to hold in her anger, "You said he was a male version of ME!" Jasper playfully blushed.

"I never said that was a good thing.," Jasper continued to tease Rose. I knew where this was going to I went outside to go over to the Fusion Beat, considering I was already at La Bella Italia. Its the only place that can serve you the best champagne at a good price even if you are just a costumer not an employee who gets an employee discount.

Suddenly I felt a body in front of me. Funny how before I met Bella I was one of the most graceful human beings you'd ever meet and now here I was running into someone.

"Hey, watch it.," the woman said while getting whatever little dirt was on her off of her, "Oh I'm sorry. I'm so used to assholes running into me everyday." She laughed. She was beautiful. Fiery red hair, glowing blue eyes, cat-like features. I'm more of a dog person but she was very attractive.

"How do you know I'm not an asshole? We just met.," I laughed and she returned the gesture. Her laugh was so beautiful. It had the seductiveness of a purr but the joyfulness of a laugh. I was in love.

"Well I guess I'll have to hang out with you more.," she let out a hand to me, "Victoria Sutherland."

"Alice Brandon. So where are you headed to?," I asked her. Actually I wanted to see if she was free to go on a date with me but it isn't like she can read minds or anything.

"Nowhere in particular. You?" Her voice was incredibly irresistible. Like she could tell me, or ask me, to jump off a cliff and I'd do it simply because of what she said.

"Just heading to a bar a friend of mine owns. I'd love to check out some other bars but who can beat a 50% discount? You know what I mean?" She nodded at me with a look that showed that she pictured her having mad sex with me.

"Oh yeah you'd better believe I do. Mind if I go with you? I haven't had a good glass of vodka in a long time." Yes! I had her where I wanted her. I've got to stop saying 'I had her where I wanted her', I sound like such a creep.

"So hey, what are you?," she asked me while playing around with her empty glass. I looked at her confused. I assumed that I was a person. I doubt Area 51 would let me pass by if I weren't a human. "I mean, what's your sexual orientation? Gay, straight, bi, trans? I'm bi."

"Oh I'm gay. You wouldn't know it by how much I hang around some of my band members. But one's my cousin and the other one's gay so I guess depends on what you prefer. Incest or odd?," I laughed. I didn't intend to make it a joke but her laugh is like drugs to me. She lets out another purr-like laugh.

So that's how our relationship started. It was going pretty steady. Heck for me two weeks was steady, considering that the longest relationship I had been in last only a few hours. Enough for someone to sober up enough to realize exactly what they had gotten themselves into. Whatever it was they were going to into. To this day I have no idea what that thing was.

But she knew my flaws, and I knew hers. We accepted the flaws as much as we accepted each other's perfections. She knew I had a tendency to over push myself, and I knew that she was over-flirtatious and that she believed strongly in open relationships. I was strongly against this-and she knew this-but I kind of believed her when she said that if she was really in love with someone she wouldn't run around on them. She'd stay loyal. She was in love with me, so I immediately had faith in her not having like 20 other girlfriends. Or 20 other boyfriends considering she's bi.

It had officially been 5 months since we started dating and in honor of our 5 month anniversary I took her over to La Bella Italia for dinner then I took her to one of Midnight Sun's performances. Actually she had been to several of our performances by this time but I had never let her backstage.

"You're beautiful. You know that?," she said to me after looking at me in silence for a few minutes. I will admit that the Fusion Beat didn't have the best lighting but every time it caught Victoria's eyes they looked like sapphires.

"Yeah and I was also thinking in honor of this special occasion, we head over to your place after Midnight Sun gets done performing." And she agreed without one complain. I should've known something was up then because I have never dated anyone who encouraged me to go to their house. If nothing else they'd say 'I just moved in and I haven't had time to unpack' but even then they would let me at least take a peek of it. But anyway, I should've known then simply because of how excited she was over it.

Her apartment was so much better than the shabby one I shared with Emmett. I assumed she had a high-paying job. Maybe not the kind of high-paying job she actually had but a high-paying job never the less.

"Hey Ali, mind if I freshen up a bit? I know we just got here but I feel absolutely filthy.," she laughed, "Man, I'm starting to sound like my mother. Anyway, I'm going to take a shower. Be back in a few." As soon as she left her phone rang. Now I'm not a really nosey person-despite what Emmet and everyone else says-but I had to pick it up.

She had a text from some guy named Laurent De Ravin. I should've put it down but by this time I figured that if Victoria was going to fuss me out for something, it wasn't going to be about me reading her text.

At this current moment I couldn't tell you what the exact text was but I do remember the argument Victoria and I had afterwards. I could've done the wise thing and ignore the text considering the circumstances. I mean it wasn't like this was the opposite of Victoria's nature. She had told me that she believed in open relationships. So yeah its a 'nobody wins' situation. But anyway I'm rambling.

"Hey Ali, anything exciting happen while I was gone?," she asked with such a chipper voice I almost wanted to make up some stupid ass lie.

"Um..nothing. You got a text from some guy named Laurent.," the anger was coming like vomit now, I couldn't control it, "Why didn't you tell me you were in love with someone else?" My voice actually came out calmer than I expected it to. It sounded soft and disappointed as opposed to the flaming (maybe that is a little much) rage that I was feeling.

For a second she looked at me like she could laugh her head off at me. "Alice, I was never in love with you. You act like its such a big deal that I'm in love with someone else but aren't you?," she said, tilting her head curiously. I was in love with someone else but I didn't want to admit it. Its pointless to love someone that you know will never feel the same.

"I'm not.," I lied and she knew. Why am I so easy to read?

"Oh yeah. So all those sketches of that Bella chick at your apartment mean absolutely nothing? Alice, I am neither an art student nor a psychologist but judging by the depth of those photos you care a great deal about her.," she sighed, "Maybe we should stay away from each other until we know that we are in love with each other. If that never happens, oh well. See you later, Alice." Afterwards she politely escorted me to the door with only a towel wrapped around her waist and a arm covering up her breasts.

Its about 1 am by the time I finally get home. Emmett was probably worried sick about me the whole time considering how I left without telling somebody where I was going. But surprisingly he's already in bed fast asleep. Either he was calm about the whole thing or Rose said something to calm him down.

But even though I was dead tired when I got home, I couldn't fall asleep. I had to confront Bella again. There is no law that says that a gay person cannot be friends with the person they have a major crush on.

* * *

**AN: Sorry for taking so long to update. Bad case of writer's block. I also apologize if this chapter isn't as good as the rest. Go figure, when I finally have a plan for the story I can't write. Anyways, read and review. Thanks to my readers and my reviewers, I love you guys. By the way the next chapter may be written in Bella's point of view. Keyword here being 'may' so don't get your hopes up too high dear readers.**


	5. Author's Note

**Disclaimer: I do own this Author's Note. If anyone else owns this Author's Note then it is by pure coincidence but I am pretty sure I own this Author's Note. All rights to this Author's Note belongs to me or ,like I said earlier, whoever really does own this Author's Note that apparently isn't mine although I strongly thought I did. *scratches head puzzled***

Author's Note:

Sorry I haven't updated since September but between writer's block, doing other stories (some of which fell of a cliff and burst into flames to put it lightly), and lack of inspiration I haven't been able to put anything onto paper. Lucky for you guys I am working of chapter four as we speak. Its alright. Not my favorite chapter but better than chapter three which comes close to going down as the worst thing I have ever written.

It turns out that Chap. Four won't be written in Bella's point of view. I had a few paragraphs down (I may develop the idea of said paragraphs into a oneshot) when I realized that it was Alice's story and not Bella's. That and me changing POVs is the ultimate sign that I am running out of steam.

For the very few people that did read my latest story 'We Are Forever Lovers', its been discontinued until further notice. It sounded fun at the time but now I realize that someone with my writing abilities (or lack of) cannot properly write a story such as WAFL. And I just realized that the initials to that sound like waffle but I digress. I do love waffles though.

To the people that have read _The Letter_, I have uploaded a new chapter and I would love it if you reviewed it. As a note to my readers: If slash isn't your thing and you have the urge to judge my story on that please don't. Opinions are valued but please do have some respect towards me. I know I say that at the end of every AN but I want to make it clear.

With reviews my motto has always been: If you are going to criticize my story make the review constructive and tell me what is good in my story, what I need to improve in my story, and why the spot that needs improvement needs improvement. I would rather have one review tell me "Oh yeah I loved it. But (insert critque here)" then have nine reviews that just say good. But every little bit helps so I am not going to complain. If you want to just say "Great", "Good", or "Please update soon" I am by no means going to stop you.

Sorry to ramble on about that. So yeah working on Chap. Four of ATBPO. If anyone would like to assist me, please PM me. I really do need all the help I can get.

Love and Twilight,  
Cassidy


	6. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't Twilight. Nor the song you see mentioned in this. Stephenie Meyers owns Twilight and Nicole Atkins and her people own the song. Enjoy!**

Chapter Four

The best way to describe how I felt the next morning when I got up is like I had a hangover. The funny part is, is that I didn't really drink much alcohol last night. Considering I was pretty depressed last night and it was pretty early when I left Victoria's apartment, it is a miracle I'm not literally having the world's worst hangover.

For a minute I thought about talking to Emmett about how I was feeling but I didn't want him to dig even deeper into my personal life than he already had in the past few years.

I looked up at the clock to see if it was time for me to go to work yet. 9:00 am. It was early but its either come in early or be alone with my thoughts. Neither are really good ideas but it would be better for me-and Emmett-if I went to work earlier than what I usually did. If I took the long way to work I might only have a few seconds to kill before my shift starts.

ooooooooooo

I finally see Bella when I'm about to close up the restaurant and go over to the Fusion Beat. With the rain pouring down on her, she looked straight out of a movie. I stared at her for a minute as she stands outside the door. Even drenched in water, she's attractive.

"Well Alice, are you going to let me in or what?," she asked hastily while she stood in front of Bella Italia's front door. I couldn't help but laugh at her. Not because she looked adorable when mad but I don't know. I couldn't help it.

"We're closed. ," I said in a semi-serious tone. Judging by the look on her face, she didn't find the humor in that, "Why are you even here?"

"I can see that. If you let me in, I'll explain it to you.," she growled. If she hadn't just said that I could've left her out there. After how she's treated me since we formally met, yeah I don't owe anything to her. But Esmé and Carlisle had taught me better manners than that so I let her in.

She sits across from me now at a table that most people would be considered to be right in the middle of Bella Italia. She has a orange towel with the initials of manager, Mario Torres, engraved into it wrapped around her hair. Had the previous incident never happened, I could've kissed her then.

"Well do you remember my boyfriend James?," she asked now calmer than what she was before. I nod in response. "Well we broke up. I-"

"Why?," I interrupted her. Now something is telling me that she's about to tell me but I didn't want to hear.

She sighed then started breathing really heavily. Like the kind of breathing a person does when they're trying to compress the flow of tears about they are feeling inside of them. "Alic-Ali, that's what I came here to tell you. I think I'm in love with you. I know we have never been the best of friends but I don't know what it is. I never really felt anything romantically for you until I saw you in the Fusion with that redhead. I don't know why but I felt this sudden urge to strangle her.," she paused to take a breath, "Now if you don't feel the same, that's fine but I had to get this...this brick off my chest."

For a minute both of us stare at the other one absolutely shocked. "I love you, Bella Swan.," I said before we leaned into a kiss. This one felt so different in contrast to our previous one. While the other one was overstuffed with awkwardness, this one actually felt nice. We both knew how we felt now and it was nice to know the other one felt the same.

I think we would've spent forever like this until I got a text from Emmett asking where I was.

"Shit! Bella, I've got to go over to the Fusion. I forgot that Midnight Sun was supposed to perform tonight. If you want me to I can drop you off at your house because I refuse to have you walk all the way back home in the pouring rain.," I smiled at her as I gestured out the door.

"No actually, I want to see you perform. Since I saw you with the redhead, I've never really had the courage to go back." After she said that, I started smiling even wider.

ooooooooo

While we're driving to the Fusion it occurred to me that she had never actually seen my car let alone ride in it. She didn't seem bothered by it at all. Or she-like myself-was too excited to notice.

Its funny how I've read that the mind is turned on most when a person is dressed in sexy clothing but right now Bella is dressed in her typical graphic tee and faded blue jeans and I have never been more turned on in my life. I want to ask if she's as turned on by me as I am by her but I'm worried it would sound too vain. Or maybe too direct.

"Why did you forgive me so easily? I mean here I am treating you like shit and you just smile and act as if nothing happened.," she said to me as we're about to step out onto the sidewalk in front of the Fusion.

When we walked into the club, it was obvious that everyone was having mixed emotions. Whether it was about my being late or that I was with Bella was unclear at the moment. Rose looked like she was about to say something until Emmett put one of his huge hands on her shoulder.

"Well Ali, I was going to ask you what took you so long but I guess with Swan attached to you I really don't need to.," Emmett laughed, "Okay we go on in a few minutes Alice anything you want to sing?" I nodded and whispered the name of the song and the artist into his ear so he could pass this onto the other members. This was how we always did the songs so that the people at the club would be surprised when they heard the song. Or if they liked or disliked the song, they wouldn't judge it before me or Jasper started singing.

Within a few minutes the band started playing _Cool Enough _by Nicole Atkins. Sure it wasn't a Top 40 hit like I knew good and well most of the people who came to the Fusion liked but the lyrics suited the moment. Thankfully most of the crowd tonight was our easy crowd. The easy crowd didn't really care what you played as long as it was decent.

Soon the second band comes up and we all go to our respective places in the bar. Edward and Jasper usually stay up at the bar with Emmett and Rose and chat for a little bit. Its funny how all of them are somehow related to each other and have some form of communication with each other always, but they always spend so much time together at the Fusion.

"They look really cute together.," Bella smiled as we sat a few tables behind the bar.

"Who?," I asked and she points to Edward and Jasper, "Oh yeah. They do. They've been together since they were teenagers. Yeah they've had their ups and downs but they have always managed to pull through it one way or another."

"How did they meet? I know that may be a little bit too personal but I'm just curious.," she smiled at me yet again.

"I was friends with Jasper in high school. We were so close that until him and Edward got together they thought we were dating. Anyway, one day we got to talking about our family and stuff. I had met Rose a few times and he had bumped into Emmett a few times but it was never really formal. Emmett had just broken up with a girlfriend of his and Rose was kind of a drifter. Now how can someone as boy-crazy as Rose was at the time be a drifter is beyond me. Anyway, Jasper brings up the idea of having Rose come over to my aunt and uncle's house to meet Emmett. Edward was going in and out of Juvie at the time and happened to be home at the time Jasper and Rose came over; Edward was about to do some community service. From the moment Jasper and Edward laid their eyes on each other it was love at first sight. Emmett and Rose, not so much but they're engaged now so you know how they ended up.," I explained.

"What about you? Have you ever been madly in love with another girl?," she asked. I looked at her for a minute. I really wanted to explain every detail of my life to her but now I was beginning to wonder just how many secrets I could keep from her.

"Other than you? There was this one girl that I had that kind of chemistry with. Like Edward and Jasper's relationship except less sex.," I laughed trying to hide the tears that I knew were building up in me, "Her parents weren't as accepting of her being a lesbian as my aunt and uncle were but they somehow dealt with it. While we were together she acted like she didn't mind it although deep down-and I later learned this from her brother-that they would never truly accept her.

"Then one day when we were both 18, about to go off to college, I got this text from her saying to come over to her house because we needed to talk. Well I went over to her house and she broke up with me. Apparently she couldn't handle us being together. I brush it off thinking 'Oh she'll come around' because we had broken up before then gotten back together a few weeks later. The next morning I get a voice mail from her brother saying that a few minutes-maybe an hour-after I left she killed herself and the funeral was that Wednesday. To this day I have this guilt that if I had stayed a few more minutes her, she would still be alive today." By the time I'm finished with this we're both in tears. Not like the kind that would cause Emmett or Edward to worry but enough for me to know that Bella felt sympathy for me.

"I'm sorry I brought it up.," she said in a soft voice. For the next few minutes we just looked at each other.

"Hey its getting late and I don't want you venturing the streets by yourself. Come spend the night over at my apartment. If I tell Emmett the circumstances, I'm sure he won't mind."

"No, I can call a cab home. I don't want to be a burden to you.," she mumbled. She said one thing but her eyes right now we're telling me an entirely different story.

"Burden me? Nah. You might've pissed me off a few times but you have never burdened me. Let me go tell Emmett that I'm going home early tonight then we'll be set. Okay?," I chirped. Afterwards she mumbled something that I can only assume was her agreeing with me.

oooooooo

After seeing Victoria's apartment the day before, I began to look at mine and Emmett's own apartment differently. I'm not embarrassed to show it to Bella or anything but its like I've come back from another dimension and realized how the apartment could've looked instead.

"Hey I know it isn't much but the bathroom is the second door to the left and I am pretty sure you can tell the difference between my room and Emmett's room. And the guestroom is at the end of the hall. Have any questions or need anything, just come over to my bedroom.," I chirped. I blushed whenever I realized just how much I had been chirping since I met Bella again at Bella Italia.

"Alice, I'll just sleep on the couch tonight. I mean this is only a one night thing and I don't want you to fix up the guestroom just for one night.," she sighed as she headed towards the couch.

"You can't sleep on that old thing. Its like sleeping on a load of bricks. No wait the bricks would probably be more comfortable.," Emmett laughed as he walked into the room. I wasn't expecting him to come home this early but apparently he had been worried sick about me being alone with Bella so he rushed home.

"Sure I can. You would be amazed by the kind of stuff I can sleep on when I'm tired.," Bella laughed. Emmett was getting pissed off now but there was a laughing tone in his voice.

"Swan I don't know much about you but when Ali suggests something like this to you, you do it. Ali really likes you and it would be no problem to fix up the guestroom. We do it all the time when Rose comes over, got it?"," Emmett growled. To put it like this, Bella slept in the guestroom that night not because she wanted to but because she had a slight fear of Emmett.

* * *

**AN:**Okay first of thanks to everyone who favorited, alerted, etc. my story after I posted the AN. I honestly didn't believe anyone would do that because well its an Authors Note and Authors Notes usually don't drawn in too much attention. Secondly, yes this is what I've been working on since September. Actually I've only been working on what you see here for maybe a few days to a week. I know the ending was flat but like I said with Chapter Two (I think) I don't want to stretch things.

And as you can see on my profile I added a couple of things to ATBPO. The timeline is moreso for my personal benefit so I can keep up with dates because I'm crazy like that. Also Christmas is approaching and I'm thinking of writing a couple of Twilight fanfics. The Bella/Alice one is going to take place in the ATBPO universe and the Edward/Jasper (a new fav. pairing of mine) may or may not take place in the ATBPO universe. And if anyone knows any good Twilight slash blogs that have like places to post fics, enter in contests, etc. please PM me with the links.

Sorry for the long author's note. Read and review but do have some respect towards me in your review.


End file.
